Orbiting space vehicles require propulsion systems with propellant feed devices which provide a continuous liquid propellant supply to the attitude control and/or maneuvering thrusters in on-orbit acceleration environments which is free of the pressurizing gas. Furthermore, shuttle type space vehicles will service many of these propulsion systems in orbit and, to be compatible with these operations, the propellant supply system must be re-usable.
Heretofore many spacecraft vehicles have provided propellant acquisition with positive expulsion devices primarily by the use of bladder type tanks. However, the requirement for multiple use propulsion systems dictates the use of propellant acquisition systems which are passive, that is, that have no moving parts and are not life limited. In the past surface tension or capillary propellant acquisition devices have been employed for some space vehicles, however, each design was customized for its own particular application and none of these prior systems afford wide re-usable application.
Accordingly, an important object of the present invention is to provide a passive propellant acquisition system for supplying gas-free propellant in low or zero-g environments which retains the propellant under high axial accelerations.
Another important object of the present invention is to provide a passive propellant acquisition system which is re-usable and is highly versatile affording application to a large number of space transportation systems such as orbit-to-orbit space shuttles and satellites.
Another important object of the present invention is to provide a propellant acquisition system which has no moving parts and thus does not have a limited life and can be used repeatedly in a variety of applications.
Yet another important object of the present invention is to provide a passive propellant acquisition system which is simple and relatively inexpensive to fabricate.